Sins of omission, and comission

The Senate is currently debating a constitutional amendment to exempt gay and lesbian taxpayers, and citizens, from the protections afforded by the 14th amendment.

This raises a number of questions about the moral fiber of the extremist majority that currently holds sway in our Congress.

It should be noted that this effort is directly aimed at the 14th amendment, which reads in part:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The simple truth is that under the constitution as it stands, gay marriage is legal. Hence, this effort; the majority wants to strip American citizens of their rights, for the first time since the end of the civil war creating a class of citizens that have a lesser legal status than others. This places the majority in a legal tradition that includes Jefferson Davis.

The rank bigotry on display in the Senate is depraved on its own merits; but there is more. This simply because, under the stringent standards which govern constitutional amendments, this effort will fail, as it deserves to fail. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that the constitution should not be trifled with for political purposes; these degrade that document, making it an object of contention instead of unity. The majority is trying, again, to sever the ties that bind us as Americans.

Then there are the sins of omission. This country is in crisis. American citizens are being spied on illegally by an administration displaying utter contempt for the law; our military is bogged down in a war descending into anarchy; there is another war brewing in the Persian Gulf, one that has the potential to be truly catastrophic; our government is headng towards insolvency; our economy seems to be on life support; our education, retirement and health care systems are in danger; and poverty is rising while the new aristocracy entrenches itself.

But the Senate is wasting its time on a witch hunt against citizens and taxpayers.

An end needs to be made. This cynical, destructive and amoral regime must fall, and it will fall. America is better than this.